Corn-cutter knife.



PATENTED JULY 28,1908.

W. THOMAS. CORN CUTTER KNIFE. APPLICATION I'I'LED 001'. q, 1906.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBION W. THOMAS, OF ROME; YORK, ASSIGNOB TO THE BURT OLNEY CANNING COM-.PAN Y, OF ONEIDA, NEW YORK.

CORN-CUTTER KNIFE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 28, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBION W. THOMAS,

citizen of the United States, residing at Rome, in the county of Oneidaand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Corn-Cutter Knives, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to an improved corncutter knife, and I declare thatthe following is a full, clear, concise and exact description thereofsuflicient to enable one skilled in the art to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which like lettersand numerals refer to like parts throughout.

The invention comprises a form of blade with cutting edges mountedthereon and applicable to use for various purposes, particularly in acorn-cutting machine for opening the kernels 'as the cobs are passedthrough the machine, and I illustrate it in one form and connection inthe accompanying drawingswherein I show one method and manner of itsuse.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side view of a corn-cutter machine, partlyin section, illustrating in a general way the location of sufficientparts of awell-known machine to identify the knife and its supportingmember. In Fig. 2 I show the head-plate of a machine with the brasscircle mounted thereon, a part of the head-plate being cut away to showthe member on which the knife-arm is mounted, and another part beingremoved to show another detail which will be pointed out. Fig. 3 is aperspective view of the knifearm and the knife. Fig. 4 is a view fromthe 7 rear showing the cutting blades mounted on the blade member, twoof the blades being broken to show the triangular cross section of theblades. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section view through one of the blades.

As the machines in connection with which I illustrate my invention arewell known they need not be fully illustrated or described. I will,therefore, illustrate in the drawings by A the frame portions of themachine which has power-pulley B mounted on a shaft 0 which carriesbeveled gears D and gears E by which power is transmitted to the shaftse which carry the notched rollers F and the scrapers F by which the cobsare passed through the machine from the carrier-trough G provided withchain 9. By suitable gears H power is transmitted to shaft 71, and tothe beveled gear h whence it is transmitted to shaft & and thetooth-wheel t which takes the corn-cobs from the carrier and drives themto the machine. The head-plate is shown as K and it is grooved toreceive the brass circle K which carries studs k which pass through aslot in the head-plate K and on which is mounted the rod k which isintegral with or secured to the core 7c in which shaft t is mounted. Inthis way the swinging of the circle turns the core is which in turnswings the tooth-wheel 'i toward or away from the center of the openingthrough which the corn passes to the machine, the circle being normallyheld in a given position by the spring S secured to a fixed portion ofthe frame A. The notched rollers F and the scrapers F are also springmounted to accommodate different size ears. As all these parts arewellknown in the art they need not be further described or theirconstruction or functions more fully explained.

On the head-plate K are mounted the knife-arms L which are pivoted onstuds Z by slotted bearings .so that as they swing to and fro they areslightly moved in or out to achand machine, while in F igs. 1 and 2illustrate a righthand machine, the figures showing, however, theconstruction of the cuttingmembers and their position in the machine.These knife-arms are also known in the art and the construction ofdifferent styles and their mounting and adjustment will be readilyunderstood. i

A variety of blades have been used in corncutting machines, some of thembeing designed to out the kernels from the cob, others to cut off thetop of the kernel, and still others to cut 0 en the kernel, but thesehave been found 0 jectionable in the tendency to clog or passundesirable material into the product.

My invention comprises a knife which is found to be free from thesedefects, the rinciple of it being that it comprises severalcutting-points whlch open the top of the kernels to permit the contentsto be pressed therefrom without cutting the skins or other parts fromthe cob. While the position and arrangement of the blade is shown inFig. 2 it is illustrated in detail in Fig. 3, etc.

On the end of the knife-arm L I mount a curved bar M, the curvaturebeing such that a group of four of these will substantially make acircle around the opening through which the cobs pass. From the concaveface of this arm project the cutting-members m which by generaldescription consist of pins mounted in the arm and bent rearwardly inthe direction the corn passes and outwardly from the arm. They aresubstantially of triangular shape in cross section, one of the edgesbeing sharpened and disposed toward the feed end of the machine to thereby present a convex cutting edge to the corn as it passes through themachine; and they terminate in a point, the end being filed off to aplane at an acute angle with the front edge and an obtuse angle with therear edge so as to project in a point the cutting edge of the peg. Theknife-arm M is screw mounted so as to be readily removed to permit a newset of cutters to be mounted without causing any substantial delay inthe work of the machine. These cutting members are mounted about thesame distance apart as the width of a kernel of an ordinary earof corn,so that each row of kernels will be cut by at least one of the blades,and there are sufficient number of these sets of teeth or blades tocompletely surround the cob as it passes through the machine. At thesame time these cutting members or blades project from the concavesurface of the arm a sufficient distance to permit the skin of thekernel to pass between the cutting blades or members and far enough awayon the arm on which these cutting members are mounted to prevent anyclogging. The arm L also carries a scraper N whose concave surface 72.lies nearer the center than the edge of the arm M so as to keep the cobfrom contact with the arm M which carries the cutting blades.

It will be seen that the use of cutting members in the form of pinssecures a knife in which there are no channels formed by the cuttingmembers and of considerable length in which particles of corn may beretained and the knife clogged. The extent of each of the cutting bladesat the point where it joins the knife arm is, in my device, no greaterthan the diameter of the pin of which the blade is formed, which featureis of importance in securing a knife which will not clog in use.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is:

1. In a corn cutting machine, a cutting member comprising a knife arm aportion thereof being curved to conform to the corn to be cut, and aplurality of blades warried by and disposed 111 planes radial withreference to the curved portion of said knife arm, each of said bladesconsisting of a pin secured at one end in and projecting from said knifearm and of triangular form in cross-section, and each of said bladesbeing bent rear\\"ardl Y in the direction of the movement of the corn,whereby one of the apices of each of said. blades will form a convexcutting edge for the corn as it passes the said cutting member.

2. In a corn cutting machine, a cutting member comprising a knife arm, ablade carried by and dis )osed in a plane at right angles to said knifearm and parallel with the direction of movement of the corn to be out,said blade consisting of a pin secured at one end in and projecting fromsaid knife arm and of triangular form in cross-section, and said pinbeing bent rearwardly in the direction of movement of the corn, wherebyone of the apices of said blade will form a convex cutting edge for thecorn as it passes the said cutting member.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBION \V. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

ETHEL POPE, E. T. DE GIORGI.

